After leaving BioWare, Zeschuk wasted no time embarking on a passion project, a beer-reviews website called The Beer Diaries.Screengrab: Wired

BioWare became known in the ’90s as a producer of computer role-playing games which were heavily influenced by pen-and-paper games like Dungeons & Dragons.

In individual blog posts on the BioWare website, Zeshuk and Muzyka fondly recalled their years with the company and assured BioWare fans that it would continue to produce quality content without them. They each framed their departures as a “retirement.”

Zeshuk said in his letter that his passion for the games industry has diminished over the years. “I can state that I’m not going to be working in games for a while, and there’s a strong possibility that I won’t be back,” says Zeshuk.

Muzyka wrote that he would like to get more involved with charities focused on education, and perhaps take up mentoring young entrepreneurs.

BioWare timed Tuesday’s announcement with news about the studio’s future plans. Aaryn Flynn, general manager of the Edmonton and Montreal studios, wrote a blog post noting that the team is “ready to embark on a whole new era of games.” It announced a new game in the Mass Effect series as well as a new entry in the Dragon Age saga called Dragon Age: Inquisition.

Game developers and industry watchers took to Twitter to praise Muzyka and Zeschuk for their contributions to the game industry.

“I got my start using their first toolset,” said Scott Warner, lead game designer of Halo 4.